Disclaimer: I don't own the Expendables, the series is creation of Sylvester Stallone and belong to Liongate!

AN: I haven't forgotten about my other stories on here but this is product of a plot bunny that thought Lee Christmas some more love on here and not from Lacey either!

Prologue: The Hardest Beginning

There's a very old saying: "There is no such thing as Regrets"!

But for one young woman leaving off the grid in Apache Junction, Arizona, working three jobs and trying to raise a 4-year-old, she had plenty of regrets.

Dakota Layla Ross was born on September 15, 1980, to Tristan and Julia Lyons who were her biological parents. Tristan was a former Marine and Air Force Major, a former CIA operative and most importantly, a former Expendable.

When Dakota was born, Tristan had asked his best friend and former Marine and Air Force buddy, Barney Ross, to Dakota's Godfather. Tristan said he was covering all of his bases when it came to Dakota's safety. After her real father left the CIA, he joined her Godfather's merry band of misfits as her mother used to tease.

From a young age, Dakota knew what her father and Godfather did as Expendables.

Tristan never kept secrets from his girls and Dakota had always been smart for her age.

Dakota was always with her father at the hanger for team meetings.

Barney's team had affectionately dubbed her an "Unofficial" Expendable!

She gravitated towards one of the men on her Godfather's team known as Doctor Death. From the time she was 5, Dakota could throw a knife from 90 yards.

She had also become an expert bowman at the age. Her time at her 'Uncle Barney's', taught her a lot of survival and how to have fun.

Then when she turned 8, the unthinkable happened.

On September 16, 1988, a day after her birthday, Barney had gifted her father with some much needed time off and told him to take her mother on a second honeymoon. When Tristan asked about Dakota, Barney told him to leave her in his care and that she was in good hands with him and the rest of the team.
Tristan readily agreed. She even called it a mini vacation from the rents, which ended up with being tackled by both her Godfather and father and captured in a tickle fit.

Barney told Tristan not to worry.

That had been last she saw of either of her parents. 2 weeks later, Tristan and Julia Lyons were found murdered in their Jamaican hotel room.

When Tristan and Julia's bodies were brought back to New Orleans, Tristan was laid to rest with full military honors with Julia buried beside him. Custody of her went to Barney and he didn't even hesitate. The 4 days later, Dakota went from Lyons to legally be called Ross.

She became a permanent fixture around Barney's first team of Expendables.

As the years went, Dakota began to change and grow. When The Expendables got a new recruit when Yin Yang joined the team in 94, Dakota was instantly drawn to him and a friendship was born. Her Dad saw the close brother-sister relationship they were forming and he wasn't going to defuse it.

Her friendship with Yang helped her a lot with her confidence and also helped her deal with her real parent's deaths.

To help, he started to teach her 14-year-old self martial arts, much to Dad's chagrin. The hilarity of that experience was they used both her Uncles Doc and Trench as live practice dummies.

The only person from her Dad's team that she couldn't stand was Conrad Stonebanks.

And both her Uncle Doc and Uncle Trench tried to shield her from his glance.

But between Yang's and her Uncles interference, it had done no good. They couldn't stop Conrad from being a sanctimonious asshole anymore then they could stop her from hitting puberty and filling out into a chest and womanly curves at 15.

She had to fill out to a size 36dd chest!

And that drew Conrad in. The only consolation was that he didn't rape her, he just molested her.

She remembered knocking him out with her table lamp, jumping up from her bed, throwing on a pair of Daisy Duke shorts and slipped on her sneakers. She raced downstairs, hopped her Dad's chopper since he had the truck and drove to Yang's apartment.

She remembered crying on his shoulder, telling him everything that happened in detail and then bagging him to keep it a secret.

He of course, reluctantly agreed. He exactly what her Dad and Uncles would do Conrad if they found out. After receiving a frantic call from Barney, Yang tells him she was paying a visit and that they were going to have a sleepover.

In the end, Conrad sold his soul to the devil and her father put him down.

But it had seemed after her Dad killed Conrad because was out of control, her father's old team seemed to fall apart. Her Uncle Trench walked away even though he and her Dad remained best friends and sometimes rivals, her Uncle Tool retired as a mercenary but was still part of the team in some small way, her Uncle Doc went rogue and got arrested in a foreign country and was sent to a foreign prison, where she didn't know.

When she turned 17, graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School with top honors. And the amazing part was that her Dad and his team were there to see her off.

Her graduation party had taken place at Rusty's Bar. Even her Uncles Trench and Bonaparte arrived to celebrate. And of course, her Uncle Tool was the life of the party, which during the course of the night both her and Tool were in a knife throwing contest, which she won hands down.

She remembered pulling her father aside and asking him to take her to the Marine recruitment office.

And so in 1997, her military career began. She impressed her instructors in boot camp, so much so, that they pulled her aside and put a Bravo 51 rifle in her hands and tested her aim.

To say that she blew her instructors away, was an understatement!

It was at the moment that she started her career as a sniper.

For the next 3 years, she saw action overseas with the special forces. In the 3 years, she served in the Marine Corps, she moved up the ranks quickly. Before she was honorably discharged, she was sent overseas again to Bosnia. Her Dad and Uncle Tool gritted their teeth about it, especially her Uncle Tool, but the had been because of the horrors he had seen over there when he served.

When she left American soil, she held the rank of Sergeant Major, but on her mission in Bosnia, she had saved the life of Colonel Higgs.

Dakota was assigned protection detail to the Colonel. When his jeep came to a stop in the middle of the square, a sniper had positioned himself on a rooftop directly across from where the Colonel was standing.

After serving 3 years as a sniper, Dakota's ears were well accustomed to her surroundings. It was like all of her senses had been heightened! Of course, it had helped that she advanced training from her Dad, Uncles and her father's Expendable team.

Never the less, she couldn't figure out what made her do what she did.

When she heard the sound of a sniper rifle loading, she immediately went into action. She ran across the street, shoved Colonel Higgs out of the way and took the bullet in the side meant for him.

She had been extremely lucky that the bullet missed any vital organs but it had been the split head that had them worried.

Colonel Higgs told them not to hesitate. He even helped the medics loaded her onto the ambulance.

When she woke up at the Military hospital in Frankfurt, she was surrounded by her family. Her Dad, her Uncles Trench, Bonaparte, Booker and Tool, and of course her Dad's Expendable team.

She couldn't stop the tears as they flowed, especially when she saw the military envelope on the rolling table in front of her bed.

Being injured, she couldn't reach for it so her father opened for her and she got the shock of her life. Not only had she been awarded the silver star for bravery going beyond the call of duty as well as the purple heart, but Col. Higgs also recommended her for promotion to the rank of Captain.

To say she wasn't shocked had been an understatement!

If she had been well enough, she would have leaped from the bed, danced a jig and back-flipped at the same time.

This had all happened in 2000. Coming home to Nola had been an adjustment.

But that was the same for all military veterans, especially the wounded ones. Adjusting to civilian life was a chore in itself. That summer, she started training again with her Dad and his team, she went 10-mile runs and even applied to the Louisiana University of New Orleans.

She got accepted to a one year program for Criminal Justice. That fall she settled into her lot in civilian life. She integrated well, she even entered into an art program while she had been there and got an art degree.

She told herself then, that one day she was going to work side by side with her Uncle Tool in his shop.

By June of 2001, graduated with a degree in both Criminal Justice and Art.

And then the unthinkable happened. While helping her father fix the engine of his plane on September 11, just 4 days shy of her 21st birthday, 9-11 happened! She remembered standing shoulder to shoulder with her dad as the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

It was then that she stormed upstairs, showered and changed her clothes. Then she made her way to the Fastback that belonged to her real father when he got it as a wreck, and then made her way towards the city.

She already did a stint in the Marines so she decided to again follow her Dad and joined the Air Force.

The recruitment office pulled up her Marine file and was very pleased with her dedication. They didn't even pause, they signed her up. When she told her Dad, Barney couldn't have been prouder.

He even drove her to the training base. He drew into a bear hug and told her to raise hell.

And that was advice that she couldn't pass up.

But before she even started her pilot training, the commanding officer called to his office. This didn't bold well on her first day!

With her head down and a reluctant sigh, Dakota made her way to the CO's office. Her heart began to beat a mile per second as she stepped through the reception doors and into her CO's office.

Before she could even raise her hand to knock, the door swung open and Air Force Col. Dylan told her to come in.

From there the conversation went from what she thought was booting out, to would you be willing to be promoted to Captain. Was that all? Dakota let out a complete sigh of relief and slumped back against her seat. She closed her eyes as she listed to Col. Dylan chuckle at her antics.

She agreed wholeheartedly and the Col made sure to tell her that he would let her Dad know.

At that statement, Dakota rolled her eyes good naturally. It didn't surprise her any, that her father still had friends within the military. Which was a good backup for his line of work?

As of that moment, Dakota's Air Force career began.

For the next year, she was shuffled around the states. Thank god for her ROTC year in the 3 years she had been in the Marines. Her ROTC unit had been stationed at Waverly University in Washington DC. She had got a bachelors in Chemistry.

She also secretly thanked her father for getting her certified in flying when she was 15. Her pilot's license came in handy.

The only saving grace was that she didn't have to go very far for her Fighter pilot training. Mississippi was just a hop, skip and a jump away from Louisiana, so she didn't have to drive far when she was on leave.

From there, she went to officers school.

Alabama was close to NOLA! Dakota often wondered if her dad had to go through all this rigmarole, just to sit your ass in a fighter's seat!?

But all of her hard work paid off. After all her training was complete, Capt. Dakota Ross was now a fighter pilot for the US Air Force. And she assigned a full tour in Afghanistan.

From 2002-2003, Dakota flew a grand total of 305 missions and shot down over 150 enemy aircraft. She had earned the call-sign: "Phoenix"! Her unit said she was like a firebird rising from the ashes.

Her full tour had been a raving success. By the time she came back home from her tour, the Air Force wanted her to reenlist but she declined. All she wanted to do now was spend as much needed time with her Dad and her extended family.

But even that had been wishful thinking.

While at her favorite diner in town, Dakota got cornered by a man in a suit.

She would have laughed if she didn't realize how serious he was.

Recruited by the CIA! They had been following her careers in both the Marines and Air Force.

She never knew that a group or organization full of people from various backgrounds and different countries, could be a bunch of would be stalkers who didn't listen to the word no.

They dogged her for weeks until she finally had enough and agreed to join.

Of course, her father almost had apoplexy! But she was an adult so he couldn't say no.

So once again Dakota left New Orleans once again! Her heart clutched at the thought of how many times she left already.

When she arrived for CIA Farm training, they didn't go easy on her, which is how she liked it. During this process, Dakota shocked the higher-ups with the ability for hand to hand combat, weapons training, language orientation and the way she could blend into her surroundings unnoticed.

They decided to put her into Deep Covert Ops training to see how she would do or if she would wash-out.

She passed with flying colors! She even showed interest in computer hacking.

The higher ups thought: 'What the hell, we didn't have enough hackers anyway'!

Again, she passed with flying colors. What else could they throw at this girl?

That was until one of the covert ops leaders decided to throw one last test Dakota's way to prove if she was as good as she said she was.

Dakota's test had become a demonstration in front of the training school. As if she wasn't nervous enough.

The demonstration was simple, to take apart a Sherman tank engine and put it back together just like exactly the way it was in front of her, blindfolded. She released a deep breath and went to work.

At 2 minutes and 25 seconds, covered in grease stains from head to foot, Dakota had accomplished her mission.

The CIA's higher-ups were incomplete in shock and some of the special covert ops were as well. There was silence in the entire room until a loving voice spoke up with a smug expression.

"I told you so!" Was he said to colleagues in a deep smug and cocky voice?!

No one could disagree with him. He had told them that Dakota would blow them out of the water and she did.

It was just their landing to back earth, hurt worse than going up!

And with that little demonstration, Dakota began her CIA career with people looking at her in awe.

From 2003-2006, Dakota became the damn best Deep Undercover, Covert Operative that CIA ever seen. Within the first 2 months of being a full CIA Agent, she got assigned her first handler: Special Agent Jake Dunham. They were the best tag team talked about in the CIA.

But that had all changes in a blink of an eye. Jake had become Dakota's best friend and her confidant but when he died in 2004, Dakota almost broke her cover.

She knew that Jake wouldn't have wanted her to do that so she finished her mission and quickly learned to be her own handler.

When she returned to the States, the CIA immediately put her back in the field again 2 months after Jake's death. But her new handler was a real jackass! Mt. Church as he liked to be called, was really full of himself but he quickly too, became a good friend.

She liked his smart-ass comments which in turn made her a bit of smart-ass as well.

They had a few good laughs. Church became a big brother.

That same year, the CIA gave her and Church a new undercover assignment, take down Hector Silva from the inside.

Now that seemed well and good but the Spooks failed to tell both her and Church that they had tried for the past three years and 26 undercover agents later, that is was near impossible. She would be lucky number 27. Along with her, Church was also frustrated.

Then he became even more pissed off when he got word that the CIA had a Mole in Hector's organization.

She was going in blind and could possibly be made.

Before she went into Columbia, she and Church joked about it. But the joke had been on her when she got caught towards the end of October.

And that's when her hell began.

From November of 04 to June of 05, for those 8 grueling months, She had been systematically beaten, tortured and whipped periodically. Every day and every month, Hector would have his man drag her from her cell into the main part of the dungeon.

He had her shackled to the ceiling and he would ask her the same questions over and over again. Who do you work for? Who is your organization? How many men are with you?

And Dakota would answer the same way. "Ross, Captain, serial number: 4691827590!"

Every day she would give the same answer and every day she was given the same routine.

Except when June of 05 came around.

It had been for her to keep track of what month or even year she been there, to her, it was only a number. But she had a feeling that Hector knew how many months she had been there. But that was all going to change. And usual, Hector had been right on time.

But as his men dragged her to the main part of the dungeon, she got that cold chill that her father got when something wasn't right about a mission, and even before his mission started she got that same cold chill.

As she entered the room and was strapped to the ceiling, she didn't take her eyes off Hector Silva.

Dakota had found it awfully strange that Hector was naked from the waist up.

And so the interrogation began again! For the next 4 and 1/2 hours, Hector beat, tortured, whipped and raped her.

She never felt such pain! He never even bothered to prepare her as he forced his way into her body, she bit her lip so hard to keep from screaming that her bottom lip bled. Even more so since it was busted open.

The force of his thrusts, shook her back and forth as her arms were chained to the ceiling. The more he pounded into her, the more she felt like she had whiplash. In the end, she was screaming herself hoarse from the sheer and utter pain that he was putting her through.

She passed out when he came inside of her.

That was the moment she realized there was no escape for her. The only way Hector was going to let her go was in a body bag.

It had been the only time she had prayed for a bullet to the brain.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

That's when she heard it. The mistakable sound of mortar rounds!

Her dry busted and cracked lips had broken into a huge grin as explosions rocked Silva's makeshift prison.

When the door to her cell was thrown open, she felt a surge of Adrenalin course her bruised, battered, weak and starved body. For whatever reason, as soon as Silva's guards burst into the cell, she launched her attack. Even though she lost a significant amount of body weight and muscle mass for the 8 months she had been held captive, in her mind she was still strong enough to kick some gorilla ass.

It was the Lyons blood that ran through her veins, but it was also how her adopted father raised her. Without even realizing it, she adapted the Ross mentality.

When the first guard rushed the cell, Dakota's leg swung out and connected with guards jaw.

He dropped like a ton of bricks! But she wasn't done.

To make sure that he would never see the light of day again, she reached into his utility belt, grabbed his combat knife, grabbing his hat with hair and all, yanked his head back and slit his throat.

Just as the second guard followed the first, she spun in a crouch and threw the knife with deadly accuracy.

The knife embedded in the man's chest and he dropped to the concrete floor.

Dakota ran as fast as her legs could carry her towards the second fallen guard and grabbed his AK-47 along with extra clips. She picked off various knives from each man as well as handguns with extra rounds.

With her arsenal complete, barefoot, she started towards the door and started to make her way in the hallway until a third, burly guard came out of nowhere and pushed her back into her cell. Her bare feet scraped against the concrete as she tried with all her might to brace herself against the sheer force.

When he pushed back towards the door to her cell, he gave a mighty shove and pushed her back in, causing her to trip over the dead bodies.

As she regained her balance, she took up a defensive stance.

When Ugly, as she dubbed him, made his way towards her, she attacked with a series of kicks and punches that shocked the man. He thought she was weak but she soon proved that certainly wasn't the case.

As she started to tire, Dakota made her kicks precise.

She aimed a couple of strong kicks to his legs, she crouched and with a powerful spin kick, she dropped him to his knees hard on the concrete floor. Agony was etched on his face as she jumped up, wrapped her legs around his neck and then spun in mid-air, causing Ugly having no choice but to follow her.

The force of the move caused the guards neck to snap and he too joined his friends on the floor.

After that move, she laid on her back for a good 3 minutes, trying to catch her breath.

She slowly got to her knees and had to rest again. She reached over and gently rubbed her right side. Her possible broken ribs were telling on her from all the exertion she put her body through.

After taking a couple of calming deep breaths, Dakota slowly stood and made her way to the door.

She cleared both sides of the hallway and slowly made her way towards the sound of all the action. She hadn't made it a foot away from her cell when another of Silva's guards rounded the corner. Startled, he pulled a gun on her and started to shout and curse at her in Spanish.

All she did was calmly stared at him and called him a pig as she opened fire.

Just as she turned, another guard ran at her left side. Her reaction was slipping as the Adrenalin started to dissipate throughout her body.

It was the sound of an automatic rifle that startled her.

When she looked up as the guard fell at her feet, she was completely shocked at what she saw.

There standing in front of her with automatic rifles pointed were her Uncles: Trench, Booker, and Bonaparte. But being alone for 8 months and trapped in an utter and complete shit-hole, Dakota thought it must have been a hallucination.

Out of complete instinct, she pulled her AK-47 on them.

It had been ultimately her Uncle Trench that had talked her down from the ledge.

In a sheer moment of weakness, Dakota lost it and collapsed into her Uncle Trench's arms, sobbing her heart out with her Uncles Booker and Bonaparte surrounding her. While her bloody, cracked and callused fingers clutched the back of Trench's brown trench coat, her legs went completely limp and she would have dropped like a stone had Trench not been holding her.

After months and months of holding the terror of what she had been put through, she began to sob uncontrollably.

"Easy Mein Kleiner, easy." Trench said softly in her ear. He gently eased the rifle from her hands and handed it to Booker.

"Home?" She asked softly. The almost broken sound of her voice sent a dagger straight to the hearts of all three men in front of her.

"Yeah baby girl, yeah we're going home," Bonaparte answered softly as he helped keep her steady while Trench took off his trench coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Guys, if we're leaving, then we better move. That opened window is going to close around our asses!" Booker gruffly said as he placed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

She watched as Trench and Bonaparte nodded in agreement.

'That's a first?! Uncle Trench and Uncle Bonny couldn't agree on anything!' She thought with a small laugh. 'And then there was Dad and Uncle Trench,'

That had been the one thing that got her through her harrowing ordeal.

She would play all the hilarious arguments that her Dad and Uncle Trench over the years, it had been like a tv screen in her mind's eye.

It had kept her sane while she had literary walked through fire.

By the time the quartet started moving, Dakota was drifting in and out of consciousnesses as the moved towards their priority ride.

That had been when Dakota lost the ability to stay awake.

When she came to again, she was in a hospital bed in New Orleans with her father and Yin looking down at her. She had thought had cried all her tears when her Uncles rescued her from Columbia but she was wrong.

She released a choked sob as she pulled both Barney and Yin into a hug and clutched them. She never wanted to let go.

After her meltdown in the hospital, everything seemed to progress smoothly. Dakota was slowly healing and attending counseling sessions with a therapist and it was helping with her nightmares and her PTSD from her capture and rape.

But that all seemed to change when July of 05 rolled around.

For two weeks straight, she couldn't keep anything down. She discreetly left and went to the store in town and pick up at least 4 pregnancy tests. She made Alice promise that she wouldn't say anything to her father. When the tests came back positive, she was then struck with a dilemma.

How was she going to find a doctor who would discreet enough and not say a word to her father if he pushed them hard enough to talk?

The only person she knew who could help her with what she was looking for, was her father's best friend, Tool. Tool was known for helping the Expendables out from time to time and even helped save her ass from Hector Silva in Columbia.

She took a deep breath and reached for her cell.

Once she told her Uncle Tool what she wanted, he was more than willing to help.

Two days later Dakota walked into Dr. Wells office, scared beyond belief.

Before the doctor began her examination, she had blood drawn and had the lad speed up testing. She had Dakota lean back and put her feet on the stirrups. She examined her quickly when the phone rang.

She watched the doctor talk for about a minute until she hung up.

When the doctor made her way back towards her, she confirmed what Dakota already knew, she was pregnant and had been for over a month as of July 14.

Dr. Wells gave her a few minutes as left the room so she could process it.

But how do you? How do you handle the knowledge that you're bringing a child into this world that was a product of rape?!

When Dr. Wells entered the room again, she brought with an ultrasound machine. She lowered the blanket and raise her johnny-shirt, she then placed cooling gel on Dakota's stomach and then turned the machine on.

In that moment when she mistakable THUMP-THUMP sound of a tiny heart pumping, it became real for her. Then Dr. Wells turned the screen on and Dakota got the shock of her life.

There, swirling around on the screen, was the tiniest little peanut she ever saw.

And that was growing inside of her!

And that's when Dakota began to cry. But these weren't sad tears, these were tears of hope. so And she knew she had to protect that little angel at all costs.

She had Dr. Wells print a picture and she walked out of the office with a smile on her face.

When she went back to her room over her father's shop, she began to pack.

After she finished boxes, a suitcase, and her duffle bag, she made her way over to her desk and composed two letters for both her father and Uncle Tool. Because she knew they wouldn't be able to run a computer much less an e-mail to save their lives.

She took everything with her downstairs, attached a trailer hitch to the back of her rebuilt and remodeled 68 Ford Mustang Fastback, she then moved her 2003 Copper Red Harley Davidson Sportster 1200c in the trailer.

She then moved to her dad's 55 Ford F-100 and placed her letter for him on the windshield with the wiper to hold it in place.

When that was done, she quickly got into her car, wiped away her tears and then made her way across town towards her Uncle Tool's place. After she placed his letter on his work station, she took a moment to give the place one last look.

She had dreams of tattooing alongside her Uncle but that would have to be put on hold for now.

When she got back into her car again, she took a deep breath and then reached for her cell. But instead of calling Church, she put in a call to one of her real father's old flying buddies and asked him to meet her at a little diner outside of New Orleans.

The dinner was a popular little spot just of the I-95. Oddly enough the name suited the place. 'Route 66!'

Dakota sat in the booth towards the back, nursing her ice water, waiting patiently for her meeting and that's when he walked in.

He was tall, about 6' 1" with dark brown hair that was starting to grey on the ends and blue eyes that could cut through to your soul.

"Uncle Dum-Dum!" She exclaimed with a huge grin.

Max "Drum" Drummer could be hard-ass most of the time. But when it came to Tristan's little girl, well she had an ability to wrap you around her little finger.

Case in point, when Dakota had been 4 she had loved comic books. Her particular favorite was Captain America. But every time she saw him, instead of saying Drum-Drum as everyone else did, it came out Dum-Dum for Dum-Dum Dugan. So it stuck! But Dakota was the only one allowed to call him that.

"Classy place sweetheart." His deep voice teased.

Dakota laughed. She always teased him that he reminded her of Han Solo.

"What can I say, classy runs in the family!" She answered with a shrug as she grinned.

"Okay princess, what's really going on? You don't call me down here for just anything, so what is it?" Drummer asked. Getting straight to the point as usual.

"You don't beat around the bush." She muttered as she reached into her leather jacket.

"Not when it comes to you." Came his fast reply.

Dakota sighed as she slid a picture across the table towards her Uncle Dum-Dum.

He took the photo and flipped it over with a sigh and then gasped.

'This can't be real, could it?' He muttered to himself. Drummer shook his head, looked at the photo again then back at Dakota.

"Is this..." Was all he said as his blue eyes looked at her with something akin to shock.

"Yup!" She answered. "You're looking at a peanut that I'm incubating."

Drummer sat back against the booth seat and released a breath that he didn't know he was holding.

"I know that I've probably put you on the spot Uncle Dum-Dum, but I can't continue to be CIA field agent. And there are two very important reasons for that: A) my cover was blown in Columbia so Hector Silva will know what I look like and B) I'm pregnant!" Dakota explained as she ran a hand through her long sun-kissed brown waves.

Drummer sighed again and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Are you sure this what you want?" He asked.

"Yeah, I do." She said firmly. "Uncle Dum-Dum, this isn't about me anymore. I need to think about this little angel I'm carrying and put him or her first." To show how sincere she was, she rubbed her belly.

"Okay, okay. I see your point." Drummer said finally as he held his hands up in surrender.

After a moment of silence, Drummer had to ask the question that was on his mind. "What about Church?" The seriousness of his voice, caused Dakota to sigh once more.

Again she reached into her jacket and pulled out her Field cell phone and slid it across the table towards her Uncle.

"Everything I just told you is on an encrypted message on the phone. He'll understand." She said softly. "Oh, make sure you give him this envelope as well." With that, the small white envelope joined the phone on Drummer's side of the table.

"It's a copy of my ultrasound picture." She replied and then stood.

Drummer looked down at the things she gave him and then back up at her.

"Are ya sure about this kid?" He asked, his blue eyes reading her like a book.

"I'm sure Uncle Dum." Was all she said.

With that, Drummer stood and pulled Dakota into a bone-crushing bear hug. When he pulled back, he placed a gentle kiss to her forehead. There were no words.

Neither party could say any more. They left all they needed to say on the table.

"Take care of yourself kid!" Drummer said as he tried to clear his choked throat. "Goodbye!"

With that Dakota started to walk away. Half a step away, she turned back towards Drummer with a watery grin.

"Hey!" She exclaimed with a choked voice. Drummer spun back towards her. "Expendables don't say 'Goodbye', we say: 'See You Later'."

Drummer laughed. "Swing through the air with the greatest of ease kid!" He fired back with a grin of his own.

"Ride or Die, Uncle Dum-Dum, Ride or Die!" She answered back as turned to walk away. "Keep the Shit in the Rear-view!"

And with that, Dakota got into her car and drove away from the only home she had ever known. But Fate has a knack of finding a way to work itself out and makes better then they seem. Or she has the ability to push two broken souls together, who didn't realize they need each other.

And Dakota Ross's story was far from over, this was only the beginning!